Wednesday, January 20, 2016

E is for Emily Brontë according to the A to Z of Bradford's architecture, art and diversity compiled by the Yorkshire Post.

E is for Emily Brontë - The third eldest of the world’s most celebrated literary family will forever be remembered for her only novel, Wuthering Heights. Emily, whose pen-name was Ellis Bell, was born in Thornton but raised in Haworth along with her sisters Charlotte and Anne, and brother Bramwell (sic). The Brontë’s [sic] legacy continues to draw millions of visitors to their former home at the Haworth parsonage, which is now a museum. (John Ledger)

And down in the south of England the Brontës are celebrated too, as the Cornish Guardian reports:

The lives of the Brontë sisters were celebrated in style at an event at St Austell Library on Monday (January 18).The Full Brontë from Scary Little Girls Productions and SALSA explored the lives and times of 19th century author sisters Charlotte, Emily and Anne – who brought the world works including Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights and novel, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall - through music, sketches, games and other activities. (CG_Mo)

National Post explains what the expression 'to take umbrage' really means and mentions Charlotte Brontë as using it literally:

Well-read horticulturalists and arborists have always known. It comes from the term for shade trees. That’s how Charlotte Brontë used it 1849 in Shirley, her second published novel after Jane Eyre: “She would spend a sunny afternoon in lying stirless on the turf, at the foot of some tree of friendly umbrage.” (Robert Fulford)

This is how Kenneth Branagh once tried to pitch an adaptation of Thomas Hardy's The Return of the Native as reported by Deadline:

At the time he was trying to mount an adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s novel “The Return of the Native” – “a novel I love,” he told TV critics.
The response? “It was doing no business at all” he said, despite the fact, “I was in theory, I had some ‘heat’, I believe it’s referred to, at that time,” he joked. “Nobody was biting And I danced – I danced all the dances of a dancing man: ‘It’s a cross between Wuthering Heights and Gone with the Wind and whatever was on last weekend that made a lot of money – it’s like that as well!’,” he reminisced of his pitch. (Lisa de Moraes)

the Spa For the Mind library, a concept devised in conjunction with bibliotherapists at The School of Life in London. Available to guests will be books from six reading lists, such as one for the Ambitious (Great Expectations, anyone?) or for the Lover (Jane Eyre). I prefer the sound of the Escapist list, though – The Hitchhikers’ Guide to the Galaxy after a punishing massage sounds truly mind-bending. (Chris Folley)

Dire Giovani (Italy) shares 7 facts about the film Labyrinth. David Bowie's character linked to the Brontës: